Perscription Drugshttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/perscription-drugs
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 22:53:20 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 22:53:20 -0500The latest news on Perscription Drugs from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-pharmaceutical-industry-drug-pricing-legilslation-2016-11Donald Trump could be both a blessing and a curse for the pharmaceutical industry (PFE)http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-pharmaceutical-industry-drug-pricing-legilslation-2016-11
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 19:41:00 -0500George Budwell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5834b1eee02ba7c45e8b4e6a-2400/ap992159117178.jpg" alt="Vertex Pharmaceuticals" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="In this March 4, 2015 photo, Viji Arumugam, a scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., works on test in her laboratory in San Diego" /></p><p></p>
<p>The pharmaceutical industry is breathing a sigh of relief after Donald Trump's insurgent victory earlier this month, thanks to his arguably more favorable stances on prescription drug prices, corporate tax rates, and regulatory reform at the FDA as compared to his former Democratic opponent.</p>
<p>Even so, pharma heavyweights like&nbsp;<span>Pfizer</span>&nbsp;may not want to cheer just yet. Trump, after all, wasn't exactly a champion of this multibillion-dollar industry during his campaign.</p>
<p>With this in mind, let's take a deeper look at how a Trump presidency could be both a blessing and a curse for the pharmaceutical industry over the next four years.</p>
<h2>The positives</h2>
<p>Big Pharma has been calling for corporate tax reform inside the U.S. to level the playing field with tax havens such as Ireland. But with Washington repeatedly turning a blind eye to this issue, several large companies, such as&nbsp;<span>Allergan</span>&nbsp;(formerly Actavis), have decided to take the bull by the horns by undergoing so-called "tax inversions."</p>
<p>Actavis, for instance, paid $5 billion to acquire Warner Chilcott plc. One major perk of the 2013 deal was that the combined company's headquarters could be moved to Ireland, thus slashing Actavis' tax rate from roughly 37% to 17%.&nbsp;Pfizer also tried to get in on this tax inversion bonanza by gobbling up Allergan earlier this year, but it was thwarted by the U.S. Treasury Department.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Trump's proposed tax plan aims to lower rates to a more attractive 15% for corporations. Perhaps even more importantly, Trump wants to cut tax rates on foreign profits to 10%, which can be paid over the course of a decade.</p>
<p>If this proposal comes to fruition, companies like Pfizer that have mountains of cash stored overseas could choose to repatriate these trapped funds to fuel additional acquisitions, special dividend payments, and/or an onslaught of share buybacks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Put simply, Trump's corporate tax plan sounds like an outright win for Big Pharma.<span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Next up, Trump's healthcare platform openly states that a major goal of his administration will be to "reform the Food and Drug Administration, to put greater focus on the need of patients for new and innovative medical products."</p>
<p>While this statement lacks specifics, it may indicate that a fundamental change in the regulatory landscape may be coming. In brief, the FDA has been heavily criticized for being too strict when it comes to reviewing new drugs, especially those targeting patient populations with limited treatment options. This current regulatory environment has been blamed, at least in part, for the sky-high cost of developing new drugs; more elaborate requirements from the FDA directly contribute to the sizable amount of clinical data necessary to gain regulatory approval inside the United States. &nbsp;</p>
<p>A shift toward smaller, less costly clinical trials would positively impact Big Pharma's bottom line.</p>
<p><span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5771618f52bcd0210c8cc034-2400" alt="pharmaceutical research" data-mce-source="Reuters/Ina Fassbender" /></span></p>
<h2>The negatives&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Far from being a passive actor on the drug pricing controversy, Trump's proposals to open up the U.S. market to drugs imported from countries with lower prices -- and have Medicare directly negotiate drug prices -- are not welcome ideas within the pharma universe. Adding insult to injury, he plans on withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) right out of the gate -- a deal that could actually&nbsp;<em>export</em>&nbsp;U.S. drug pricing schemes to the rest of the world.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Trump's plans to blow open the pharma industry's firewalls against stiffer competition and more uniform pricing schemes could devastate profit margins.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The bottom line is that lower profit margins and an inability to hike drug prices would seriously hurt companies like Pfizer that are continuing to struggle with the loss of exclusivity for multiple star drugs.&nbsp;</p>
<h2><span>Take-home message</span></h2>
<p>At the end of the day, there's no telling which of Trump's proposals will ultimately turn into policy. Corporate tax reform, after all, would require the cooperation of Congress, and the reality is that neither party has shown much interest in this issue over the years. The pharma industry's powerful lobbying presence in D.C. could also help to scuttle any legislation aimed at wholesale changes to drug prices.&nbsp;</p>
<p>All told, Trump's potential impact on this cornerstone industry of the American economy is far from clear at this point. After all, most of his proposals will need to be vetted by a Congress that many have argued is beholden to the pharma industry. In other words, Republicans aren't simply going to lie down for Trump on issues that drug companies openly despise -- perhaps setting the stage for more of the status quo.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-pharmaceutical-industry-drug-pricing-legilslation-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cook-scrambled-eggs-anthony-bourdain-2016-11">The best way to cook scrambled eggs — according to Anthony Bourdain</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/why-an-obscure-supreme-court-case-is-a-big-deal-for-prescription-drugs-2016-4How the Supreme Court rules on a seemingly obscure case could have a huge impact on prescription drugshttp://www.businessinsider.com/why-an-obscure-supreme-court-case-is-a-big-deal-for-prescription-drugs-2016-4
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:19:47 -0400Dylan Scott
<p class="danger-zone"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/571a24c652bcd05b008be4d7-1937-1453/ap_954424077774.jpg" alt="supreme court" data-mce-source="AP/Jon Elswick" /></p><p>America&rsquo;s drug price debate is coming to the Supreme Court.</p>
<p class="danger-zone">How the nation&rsquo;s highest court rules in a case that, on its face, has nothing to do with prescription drugs could, nonetheless, leave a big mark on medicine.</p>
<p class="danger-zone">Oral arguments in the case, to be heard Monday, come as a huge majority of Americans say medicines are not affordable and drug costs have become a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2015/12/01/stat-harvard-drug-prices-poll/" target="_blank">major issue</a> in the 2016 presidential race.</p>
<p class="danger-zone">Brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers are warning that the wrong ruling could limit their ability to recoup <a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2015/09/29/drug-firms-need-to-explain-the-prices/" target="_blank">their investment </a>in research and development, putting their drug pipelines at risk.</p>
<p class="">Health insurers and generic drug companies, meanwhile, are urging the court to <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/cuozzo-speed-technologies-llc-v-lee/" target="_blank">uphold a ruling</a> that they believe can help <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2015/12/29/generic-drugs-backlog/" target="_blank">push more generics</a> into the market and, therefore, keeps drug costs down.</p>
<p class="">The case being heard by the court has nothing directly to do with medicine. Far from it: The foundation of the case is a patent for a speedometer that tells drivers when they&rsquo;re speeding by displaying their speed and the speed limit.</p>
<p>So what does that have to do with drugs? It&rsquo;s all about patents.</p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1">&ldquo;In patent law, much turns on the nitty-gritty details. There&rsquo;s nothing grittier than the issue&rdquo; raised in the Supreme Court case, Robin Feldman, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings, told STAT. &ldquo;It matters a lot. It matters a lot for pharma.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>The consequences, for pharmaceuticals and any other industry that relies heavily on patents, could be huge.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Ronald Mann, a Columbia law professor writing for <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/" target="_blank">SCOTUSblog</a>, said &ldquo;the case has the potential to be a landmark, setting the practical boundaries of patent validity for decades to come.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>Patents are extremely important to brand-name drug companies because they allow those companies to exclusively sell the medicines they develop for a set period of time, before generics can enter the market offering a similar drug at a much lower price.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/571a32d291058424008be513-2000-1296/gettyimages-509757912.jpg" alt="GettyImages 509757912" data-mce-source="Getty Images/Matt Cardy" /></p>
<p>During that period, the companies can charge whatever price they want (or at least whatever the market will pay) and, therefore, they say, earn back the millions and millions of dollars they spent developing the drug. Then, the companies say, they reinvest that money into more research to find the next breakthrough treatment.</p>
<p>At stake in the Supreme Court case is a new process for challenging patents. In 2011, Congress passed a law that created a new procedure &mdash; called <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/appealing-patent-decisions/trials/inter-partes-review" target="_blank">inter partes review</a> &mdash; for patent challenges to be heard by an appeals board inside the US Patent and Trademark Office. Previously, patent challenges were typically addressed in costly and time-consuming litigation.</p>
<p>In court litigation, patents are presumed to be valid and understood by their &ldquo;plain and ordinary meaning.&rdquo; But in these inter partes reviews, as established by the administration, patents are interpreted more broadly.</p>
<p>For drug makers, that&rsquo;s a problem. Patent holders want the standard for review to be narrow. The more specific their claim is considered to be, the harder it will be for competitors to argue that the claim is not novel and important. They also want the same standard to apply in both the courts and the appeals board.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s a subtle difference, but an important one.</p>
<p>The current system threatens &ldquo;the predictability and strength of the protection that the patent system provides to innovators and the public alike,&rdquo; the drug industry trade group PhRMA &mdash; short for Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America &mdash; wrote in a brief supporting the plaintiffs. (The group declined to comment beyond its briefs.)</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the twenty-first century, it costs an average of $2.6 billion to develop a new drug,&rdquo; the group&rsquo;s lawyers said. &ldquo;Meaningful patent protection is required to justify that investment.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the other side, insurers and generic drug manufacturers argue that brand-name drug companies <a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/01/11/nih-drug-costs-patents/" target="_blank">exploit the patent system</a> to prevent generics from coming on the market and, therefore, they insist, keep prices high. They allege that drug companies will, for example, make an ultimately insignificant change to their products to extend the patent&rsquo;s life &mdash; the kind of practice that the new inter partes reviews are supposed to prevent.</p>
<p>The trade groups, America&rsquo;s Health Insurance Plans and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, said in their brief that the reviews as currently constructed are &ldquo;a critical consumer protection against abusive patent extensions that limit patient access to more affordable treatment options, delay market entry of less expensive generic therapies, and drive up drug costs.&rdquo;</p>
<p>PhRMA, supporting the plaintiffs, argues that the administration got it wrong for a few reasons.</p>
<p>First, Congress intended for these reviews to be a substitute for court litigation, so the standards should be the same. Second, by creating two different standards for patent reviews, patent challengers are being encouraged to shop their challenges to the most hospitable forum. One PhRMA brief cites an incident in which Allergan&rsquo;s patent was contested in court, and the court rejected the case. Soon after, the same challenge was brought to the patent office for inter partes review.</p>
<p>The generic drug association and the health insurance industry are arguing the other side and supporting the administration. They say that broad interpretations are used in other patent reviews and that the administration was well within its legal authority when it crafted the rules for inter partes review. Congress wanted to make it easier to challenge weak patents, they say, so the administration&rsquo;s rules help fulfill the lawmakers&rsquo; goals.</p>
<p>The parties are also arguing whether the patent board&rsquo;s decision to review a patent in the first place should be subject to an appeal in district court. The plaintiffs and PhRMA say it should be. The administration, supported by the generics and health plans, says it shouldn&rsquo;t.</p>
<p>It might sound arcane and even a little boring. But these major industry groups care a lot about patents. Whenever Congress starts working on patent reform, as it has over the last few years, both sides lobby heavily &mdash; and that&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re weighing in at the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>The situation created by the Obama administration and the lower court ruling &ldquo;breeds uncertainty and stifles innovation,&rdquo; PhRMA wrote in one of its briefs.</p>
<p>Health insurers see the stakes as equally dire.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Consumers and the health system as a whole benefit from a more competitive prescription drug market,&rdquo; Marilyn Tavenner, president and CEO of America&rsquo;s Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement. &ldquo;Protecting monopoly-like pricing schemes threaten[s] consumers&rsquo; access to more affordable prescription medications.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The case being heard on Monday is Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-multiple-factors-cause-high-prescription-drug-prices-in-us-2015-9" >Here are the 6 reasons why prescription drugs are so expensive</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>MORE:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/money-spent-on-unused-cancer-drugs-2016-3" >A small change could save the US $3 billion on cancer drugs</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-an-obscure-supreme-court-case-is-a-big-deal-for-prescription-drugs-2016-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trailer-martin-scorsese-film-silence-paramount-andrew-garfield-liam-neeson-adam-driver-2016-11">Watch the trailer for the new Martin Scorsese film that took over 20 years to make</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/medicare-premiums-are-going-up-2015-10Medicare premiums are going uphttp://www.businessinsider.com/medicare-premiums-are-going-up-2015-10
Fri, 09 Oct 2015 01:15:00 -0400Mark Miller
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56171a2f9dd7cc19008c0772-4157-3118/ap_351825299024.jpg" alt="medicare" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin" data-mce-caption="Nurses, from left, Katie Murphy of Boston, Kimberly Wallace of Buffalo, N.Y., and Nora Watts of Westborough, Mass., participate in a rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 30, 2015." /></p><p>Seniors have received some unpleasant news in their mailboxes in recent weeks: premiums for many Medicare prescription drug insurance plans will rise at double-digit rates next year.</p>
<p>Premiums for the ten most popular Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) will rise an average of 8 percent next year - the fastest clip in five years, according to Avalere Health, a consulting and research firm.</p>
<p>And five of the top plans will boost their average premiums anywhere from 16 percent to 26 percent.</p>
<p>Seniors got the bad news in the annual notices that plan providers must send to enrollees by Sept. 30 each year ahead of the annual fall enrollment period. Enrollment runs from&nbsp;Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 - and it is the time when seniors can shop for new drug plans, which are optional add-ons to Medicare.</p>
<p>Medicare officials said in July that the average premium for a basic Part D plan would hold steady next year at $32.50 per month. Avalere looked at the 10 most popular plans, which cover more than 80 percent of all enrollees.</p>
<p>The big premium increases should motivate enrollees to shop for new coverage during the fall enrollment. A key question for shoppers this year will be whether to buy a basic or enhanced plan.</p>
<p>Basic plans come with a gap in coverage, often called the "donut hole," where the beneficiary must pay out of pocket after reaching a cap. In 2016, the gap starts when you and your insurance company have spent a combined $3,310, and coverage resumes when total spending reaches $4,850.</p>
<p>The largest basic plan, SilverScript Choice, will charge an average of $22.56 per month next year. Humana Walmart RX will charge $18.49 per month.</p>
<p>Most enhanced plans offer some coverage in the so-called donut hole, but also come with higher premiums. For example, AARP MedicareRX Preferred, which is the largest of the top 10 plans, will see its average premium jump 21 percent next year to $60.79, according to Avalere.</p>
<p>Humana Enhanced will boost its average premium 25 percent to $66.25. Higher premiums for enhanced plans stem, in part, from higher plan costs for sophisticated drugs used to battle catastrophic illnesses, according to Avalere.</p>
<h2><strong><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/514b2d64ecad041b2d000017-2000-1311/ap04031606125.jpg" alt="prescription drugs" data-mce-source="AP" /></strong></h2>
<h2><strong>Costly drugs</strong></h2>
<p>The Part D outlook marks a major change from recent years - average premiums for the top 10 have been flat or down a bit in each of the past four years. Now the rising cost of specialty drugs is putting upward pressure on premiums.</p>
<p>Responding to inquiries from Reuters, Humana and AARP both issued statements acknowledging rising drug costs as key factors driving premium increases, along with consumer usage patterns.</p>
<p>A report released early this year by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which monitors Medicare for Congress, states that the trend will pose a "big challenge" for the Part D program in the years ahead, as fewer big blockbuster drugs are going generic and more than half of new drug approvals are for specialty drugs.</p>
<p>Huge increases in the prices of some older drugs have sparked a political firestorm in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Along with premiums, Medicare shoppers should consider how well a plan matches your medication needs. Look carefully at the "formulary" in a plan to determine your prescriptions are covered, what cost-sharing is required and whether any special rules apply.</p>
<p>In some cases, the insurer can require you to start with an alternate medication rather than the drug your physician prescribes (step therapy), limits on quantity or a required prior authorization.</p>
<p>Plans increasingly are using preferred pharmacy networks to deliver drugs as a cost-control mechanism; that could be a big retailer such as Wal-Mart, CVS or Walgreen's or a delivery-by-mail option. Whatever you decide, make sure you are comfortable with the delivery network for plans that you are considering.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/medicare-premiums-are-going-up-2015-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-traffic-jam-madness-2015-10">This 50-lane traffic jam in China will make you regret ever complaining about your commute</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/prescriptions-for-hiv-drug-skyrocketed-2015-9Prescriptions for a new HIV prevention drug have skyrocketed over the last yearhttp://www.businessinsider.com/prescriptions-for-hiv-drug-skyrocketed-2015-9
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 22:15:00 -0400Luke Malone
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55cce06c371d2277018bf7c6-2816-2112/6127242068_5a850581e0_o.jpg" alt="pills money" data-mce-source="Flickr/Images Money" /></p><p>First-time prescriptions for Truvada, the little blue pill used for HIV prevention, climbed over 300 percent in a one year period.</p>
<p>Truvada&rsquo;s popularity has been rising steadily since 2012, when the FDA approved it for use as a pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.</p>
<p>First-time prescriptions, however, skyrocketed 332 percent between the first quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015.</p>
<p>Gilead, the drug&rsquo;s manufacturer, said 8,512 individuals began treatment between January 1, 2012, and March 31, 2015.</p>
<p>Though the drug-maker believes the number is actually much higher since they don&rsquo;t have data from every pharmacy.</p>
<p>Truvada, which was originally developed as a drug to manage HIV, received national attention last year after a series of <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/truvada-hiv-2014-7/" target="_blank">articles</a> debating its merits were published. The CDC <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/prevention/research/prep/" target="_blank">states</a> that the risk of contracting HIV for those in high-risk populations is reduced by 92 percent when it&rsquo;s taken consistently, which is usually one pill a day.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/09/01/cid.civ778.abstract" target="_blank">study</a> of 600 men who use PrEP found that none had acquired HIV&mdash;though many subjects reported a decrease in condom use during the same period and half had contracted different STDs. Study authors, however,<a href="http://www.poz.com/articles/SF_PrEP_Kaiser_761_27734.shtml" target="_blank">stressed</a> that they can&rsquo;t attribute these infections directly to PrEP use.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our study is the first to extend the understanding of the use of PrEP in a real-world setting and suggests that the treatment may prevent new HIV infections even in a high-risk setting,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.poz.com/articles/SF_PrEP_Kaiser_761_27734.shtml" target="_blank">said</a> lead author Dr. Jonathan Volk, a physician and epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center.</p>
<p>The drug received a further bump in visibility last week when <em>How To Get Away With Murder</em> became the <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2015/09/network-tv-addressed-prep/" target="_blank">first network primetime show</a> to broach the topic, after a character discussed the drug with his boyfriend on the season&rsquo;s debut.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/prescriptions-for-hiv-drug-skyrocketed-2015-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hamilton-free-performances-2015-9">This 'genius' playwright is giving free performances from the hottest show on Broadway</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/big-pharma-price-hikes-are-shockingly-common-2015-9Big pharma price hikes are shockingly commonhttp://www.businessinsider.com/big-pharma-price-hikes-are-shockingly-common-2015-9
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 16:36:50 -0400Corey Fedde
<p><br />Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager and current CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, sparked public and official outrage recently after raising the price of Daraprim, a drug&nbsp;commonly used by AIDS and cancer patients, 5,000 percent overnight.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hivma.org/uploadedFiles/HIVMA/HomePageContent/PyrimethamineLetterFINAL.pdf" target="_self">The Infectious Diseases Society of America</a>&nbsp;detailed the shift from $13.50 to $750 per pill in a letter addressed to Turing, urging the company to reverse the decision.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Daraprim is not the first drug Mr. Shkreli has attempted to increase in price.</p>
<p>In September of 2014, Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company run by then-CEO Shkreli, came under fire for increasing the price of Thiola, another prescription drug. The price increase was from $1.50 to $30.00 per pill.</p>
<p>Both times Shkreli has led companies in a major price hike of prescription drugs, public outrage has ensued. But he is not the only one to utilize the tactic. In 2011, the price of a medical drug was raised 7,500 percent overnight, and Shkreli had nothing to do with it.</p>
<p>In 2011, KV Pharmaceuticals won government approval to be the exclusive supplier of makena, a drug that aims to prevent preterm labor. The price for makena immediately increased from $10 to $20 per injection to $1,500 per injection.</p>
<p>Dr. Roger Snow, deputy medical director for Massachusetts&rsquo; Medicaid program, told&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twincities.com/ci_17577745" target="_self">TwinCities.com</a>, "That's a huge increase for something that can't be costing them that much to make. For crying out loud, this is about making money.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tb-drug-price-cycloserine-1.3237868" target="_self">Earlier this month</a>, the price of cycloserine went from $15 per pill to $360. Cycloserine has been produced since the 1960s affordably. The rights to produce the drug were given to Rodelis Therapeutics a month before the price increase.</p>
<p>"Everyone in the TB community in North America has been going crazy over the last week or so when they realized the price had gone up by over 2,000 per cent," said Amir Attaran, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa, to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tb-drug-price-cycloserine-1.3237868" target="_self">CBC News</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54af0a12ecad04c77fc27143-1818-1363/pills-53.jpg" alt="pills" data-mce-source="stockmonkeys.com" data-link="http://www.stockmonkeys.com" /></p>
<p>In 2014, The Times of India&nbsp;<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hepatitis-C-drug-in-India-to-cost-Rs-49-lakh-less-than-in-US/articleshow/42585732.cms" target="_self">reported</a>&nbsp;Sofosbuvir, a Hepatitis C medicine, was being sold in India for $300 per bottle, or 1 percent of the price of the same drug in the US.</p>
<p>Most baffling, Gilead, the pharmaceutical company selling the drug in India, is the same company selling the drug in the US. Gilead also offered voluntary licensing deals to seven other small pharmaceutical companies in India.</p>
<p>Pharmaceutical companies are quick to offer rationales for price hikes and differentiations between countries.</p>
<p>Shkreli said in an <a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000423226&amp;play=1" target="_self">interview with CNBC News</a> by rising prices Turing Pharmaceuticals is &ldquo;dramatically increasing the access to daraprim, lowering co-pays, giving more drugs away for free.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Uwe Reinhardt, a health-care economist from Princeton University, disagreed with Shkreli, saying to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/21/how-an-obscure-drugs-4000-price-increase-might-finally-spur-action-on-soaring-health-care-costs/" target="_self">Washington Post</a>, "He bought this patent and he's milking it for all it's worth. In a way, I thank him&hellip;. Sometimes you need some sentinel effect that wakes people up."</p>
<p>In at least two cases, public attention has caused a partial reverse in pricing decisions. Rodelis Therapeutics, which raised the price of cycloserine by 2000 percent, gave the rights to the drug back to the nonprofit Chao Center, which produced the drug since 2007, according to <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/tuberculosis-drug-cycloserines-massive-price-hike-rodelis-therapeutics-rolled-back-2107884" target="_self">International Business Times.</a> Turing Pharmaceuticals has also announced an undisclosed price decrease for daraprim, according to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/drug-ceo-will-lower-price-daraprim-after-outrage-n431926" target="_self">NBC News.</a></p>
<p>Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled a plan to lower prescription drug costs Tuesday. Fellow presidential candidate and US Sen. Bernie Sanders is currently sponsoring legislation to allow Medicaid to negotiate for lower drug prices.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/big-pharma-price-hikes-are-shockingly-common-2015-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-raised-the-price-of-a-pill-5000-percent-is-doubling-down-2015-9">The CEO who raised the price of a life-saving pill 5,000% is doubling down</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-multiple-factors-cause-high-prescription-drug-prices-in-us-2015-9Here are the 6 reasons why prescription drugs are so expensivehttp://www.businessinsider.com/ap-multiple-factors-cause-high-prescription-drug-prices-in-us-2015-9
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:35:00 -0400Linda A. Johnson
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5256ba7decad041d3ae5d8be-1024-685/6556949031_fc30e025eb_b.jpg" alt="perscription" data-mce-source="Flickr/The Javorac" /></p><p>Sticker-shocked patients increasingly wonder why prices for prescription drugs continue to rise in the US.</p>
<p>The issue heated up this week with the news that Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of Daraprim, the only approved treatment for a rare, life-threatening parasitic infection, by more than 5,000% to $750 a pill.</p>
<p>Medical groups blasted the increase, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called it "price gouging." Turing's CEO, former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, later said he'd make "a serious price adjustment."</p>
<p>But the issue goes beyond a single company or drug.</p>
<p>From 2008 through 2014, average prices for the most widely used brand-name drugs jumped 128%, according to prescription-benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. In 2014, it estimated that total US prescription-drug spending increased 13%. Reasons include increasing research costs, insufficient competition, and drug shortages.</p>
<p>Pharmaceutical and biotech industry groups say prescription medicines save money by preventing costly complications and hospitalizations and have long accounted for just 10% of annual US healthcare spending.</p>
<p>But that could change because many new drugs for cancer, Hepatitis C, and rare disorders carry list prices of $100,000 or more for a year or course of treatment.</p>
<p>For patients with insurance requiring them to pay a significant percentage of medication costs, the priciest drugs can be unaffordable. Higher prices can trickle down even to those who now have flat co-payments, such as $30 per prescription, because as insurance plans incur higher costs, they usually increase the share beneficiaries pay in subsequent years.</p>
<p>While it's clear drug prices are rising, many patients don't understand why.</p>
<p>Here are six of the top reasons:</p>
<h2>1. No price controls</h2>
<p>The US government doesn't regulate prices, unlike many countries where government agencies negotiate prices for every drug.</p>
<p>In the US, drugmakers set wholesale prices based mostly on what competing brand-name drugs cost and whether their new drug is better, said Les Funtleyder, healthcare portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management.</p>
<h2>2. Lengthy patents</h2>
<p>Patents last longer than in other countries, usually giving a drug's maker exclusivity that prevents competition for 20 years from when the patent is issued. Because patents are filed while drugs are still in testing, that clock starts ticking long before the drug goes on sale.</p>
<p>Typically, new drugs end up with a monopoly for roughly a dozen years.</p>
<p>Their makers generally increase their prices every year, by about 5% or more. Those increases add up and become bigger as the expiration of the patent approaches.</p>
<h2>3. Limited competition</h2>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55cce06c371d2277018bf7c6-2816-2112/6127242068_5a850581e0_o.jpg" alt="pills money" data-mce-source="Flickr/Images Money" /></p>
<p>For many drugs, there isn't enough competition to hold down prices. Many older generic drugs were priced too low to be profitable, so some drugmakers stopped making them. Once only one company or two companies make a drug, the price usually shoots up.</p>
<p>For older, brand-name drugs that treat conditions too rare to attract multiple manufacturers, the sole maker has a de facto monopoly.</p>
<p>Funtleyder noted that the large backlog of generic drugs awaiting US regulatory approval means that for some off-patent drugs, only one or two generic versions have been approved. That limits reductions from the brand-name drug's price.</p>
<p>Scores of drugs, mostly older, once-cheap generics, have been in short supply over the last decade. Reasons include raw material shortages and manufacturing deficiencies involving dirty factories, pills containing the wrong amount of an active ingredient and other serious problems, particularly at factories in India.</p>
<p>Those trigger production shutdowns or temporary bans on their sale in the US.</p>
<p>Also, several drugmakers have recently been buying rights to older drugs, then hiking the price, as Turing did with Daraprim.</p>
<h2>4. Small markets</h2>
<p>Many new drugs are for rare conditions or cancer subtypes involving a particular genetic mutation, so they might help just thousands or hundreds of patients. To recoup research and development costs, drugmakers set high prices, though they offer many patients financial assistance.</p>
<h2>5. Development and production costs</h2>
<p>Research is becoming increasingly expensive. Industry groups say it can take about a decade and well over $1 billion to get a new drug approved, though that includes development costs for the many drugs that don't work out.</p>
<p>The most-exorbitant new drugs are biologics, produced by living cells under precise conditions, which costs far more than mixing chemicals to make pills.</p>
<h2>6. Fewer new generics</h2>
<p>After a huge wave of patent expirations from 2011 through 2013 that brought generic versions of drugs taken daily by millions of patients, the number of popular drugs going off patent has declined. That has contributed to total US spending on medicine rising.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-multiple-factors-cause-high-prescription-drug-prices-in-us-2015-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/crowds-reaction-speaker-john-boehner-resigning-2015-9">Here's how a conservative crowd reacted when Marco Rubio announced that Speaker John Boehner is resigning</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/modafinil-could-enhance-your-performance-at-work-2015-8A new drug could enhance your performance at work — and one doctor says the side effects aren’t any worse than too much coffeehttp://www.businessinsider.com/modafinil-could-enhance-your-performance-at-work-2015-8
Sat, 29 Aug 2015 15:55:17 -0400Olga Khazan
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55e20cb5bd86ef12008b6d7e-906-680/9473752808_f1c3931257_o.jpg" alt="Police Office Computers Monitors" data-mce-source="Via Flickr" /></p><p>If you could take a pill that will make you better at your job, with few or no negative consequences, would you do it?</p>
<p>In a meta-analysis <a href="http://www.europeanneuropsychopharmacology.com/article/S0924-977X(15)00249-7/abstract" data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'0',r'402373'">recently published</a> in <span>European Neuropsychopharmacology<em>, </em>researchers from the University of Oxford and Harvard Medical School concluded that a drug called modafinil, which is typically used to treat sleep disorders, is a cognitive enhancer. Essentially, it can help normal people think better.</span></p>
<p>Out of all cognitive processes, modafinil was found to improve decision-making and planning the most in the<span> 24 studies the authors reviewed</span>.</p>
<p>Some of the studies also showed gains in flexible thinking, combining information, or coping with novelty. The drug didn&rsquo;t seem to influence creativity either way.</p>
<p><span>&ldquo;What emerged was that the longer and the more complex the task, ... the more consistently modafinil showed cognitive benefits,&rdquo; said </span><span>Anna-Katharine Brem, a neuropsychologist at Oxford and one of the paper&rsquo;s authors, in an email.</span></p>
<p><span>Surprisingly, the authors found no safety concerns in the data, though they caution that most of the studies were done in controlled environments and only looked at the effects of a single dose.</span></p>
<p><span>Modafinil is one of an arsenal of drugs, which includes Adderall, Ritalin, and Concerta, that are increasingly used &ldquo;off-label" by college students and adults seeking greater productivity. </span><span>Just 1.5% of adults aged 26 to 34 were taking ADHD medications in 2008, but that number had almost </span><span>doubled to 2.8% in 2013, as </span><a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/dear-mona-how-many-adults-take-adhd-drugs/" data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'1',r'402373'">FiveThirtyEight points out</a><span>. </span></p>
<p><span>Though these drugs treat real medical conditions &mdash; ADHD, in Adderall&rsquo;s case; narcolepsy, in modafinil&rsquo;s &mdash; many of the people who take them don&rsquo;t have those conditions.</span></p>
<p>Adderall and modafinil are different chemically, but their effects on cognition are similar, according to some psychiatrists. Adderall, or amphetamine, works by boosting the brain&rsquo;s levels of norepinephrine and dopamine, two chemicals that are responsible for concentration and alertness.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/534c5787eab8ea1075f24e42-3456-2592/adderall-pills-on-magazine-1.jpg" alt="Adderall pills on magazine" data-mce-source="Alex Dodd/flickr" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexdoddphotography/3196151008" /></p>
<p>Scientists are less sure how modafinil works. One pathway is by stimulating the release of histamine, which produces a sensation of wakefulness. (People with allergies may be familiar with histamine because many allergy drugs are antihistamines. Just as Benadryl dampens histamine and puts you to sleep, modafinil boosts it and wakes you up.) But modafinil also works on other neurotransmitter systems in the brain, and the resulting effect is one of allowing users to perform complex cognitive tasks more effectively.</p>
<p>These drugs can have negative health consequences, especially at large doses. The number of ER visits associated with the nonmedical use of stimulants among young adults tripled between 2005 and 2011, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Some research has shown that the long-term use of modafinil can affect sleep patterns. In rare cases and at high doses, stimulants like Adderall have been shown to induce psychosis.</p>
<p>Still, some psychiatrists say the health risks of cognitive enhancers are overstated. Millions of adults take these drugs. Not all of them have ADHD or sleep disorders. And yet, investment bankers and corporate lawyers aren&rsquo;t dropping dead at their desks.</p>
<p>Very few adults &ldquo;are going to have a horrible effect from using these medicines,&rdquo; James McGough, a clinical psychiatrist at UCLA, told me. &ldquo;They're safe.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The side effects, he says, are no worse than having one too many coffees &mdash; jitteriness and stomach aches. According to him, people taking Adderall or modafinil at therapeutic doses don&rsquo;t get addicted, in the sense that stopping their use doesn&rsquo;t cause a painful withdrawal.</p>
<p>Adderall and modafinil are about equal when it comes to both their performance-enhancing capacity and side effects, McGough told me. Ruairidh Battleday, one of the authors of the modafinil paper, said the side effects and abuse potential of amphetamine seem worse to him than those of modafinil.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5561c7176da811e84626df9a-2151-1613/coffee-shop-16.jpg" alt="coffee shop" data-mce-source="Andrew Burton/Getty Images" /></p>
<p>The paper hints at a coming debate over the ethics of smart drugs. Currently, people require psychiatric diagnoses in order to be prescribed any of these pills. But if these medicines are ultimately found to be safe, and they work for almost everyone, should anyone be able to take them?</p>
<p><span>And if modafinil <em>does</em> become more widespread</span><span>, where does it end? Will we soon be locked in a productivity arms race, pumping out late-night memos with one hand while Googling for the latest smart-drug advancement with the other?</span></p>
<p><span>Some sports organizations, for what </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_banned_substances" data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'5',r'402373'">it&rsquo;s worth</a><span>, already ban the use of these drugs without an ADHD diagnosis</span><span> for the same reasons they ban steroids and other performance enhancers. Will employer drug tests soon screen for off-label modafinil use? Or, on the contrary, will CEOs welcome the rise of extra-sharp workers who never need sleep?</span></p>
<p><span>These are not hypothetical questions. Between technological enhancers like </span><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us" data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'6',r'402373'">holographic computers</a><span> and pharmacological ones like modafinil, more and more products are coming to market that will</span><span> give well heeled, busy consumers</span><span> the means to become even more so. </span><span>As Battleday says, </span><span>&ldquo;m</span><span>ore agents for neuro-enhancement are undoubtedly on their way.</span><span>&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>Little is known about the long-term risks of pharmaceutical nootropics. What&rsquo;s more, cognitive enhancement falls beyond the scope of medicine. The FDA doesn&rsquo;t prioritize approving drugs for healthy people who want to become superheroes. Similarly, d<span>octors aren</span><span>&rsquo;t allowed to prescribe medication to people who aren&rsquo;t sick</span><span>. </span></p>
<p><span>&ldquo;I</span><span>t's cheating, by our current standards,</span><span>&rdquo; McGough says.</span></p>
<p>But if white-collar workers are pounding spreadsheets for 16 hours a day &mdash; as they <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html" data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'7',r'402373'">reportedly are at companies like Amazon</a>&nbsp;&mdash; those standards are bound to be questioned sooner rather than later.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/modafinil-could-enhance-your-performance-at-work-2015-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/drig-companies-ripping-americans-off-2015-8Americans think drug companies are ripping them offhttp://www.businessinsider.com/drig-companies-ripping-americans-off-2015-8
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 20:45:00 -0400Eric Pianin
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55cce06c371d2277018bf7c6-2816-2112/6127242068_5a850581e0_o.jpg" alt="pills money" data-mce-source="Flickr/Images Money" /></p><p>Amid growing concern among consumers and government officials about the skyrocketing costs of new specialty drugs, a new survey found that seven in ten Americans believe prescription drug prices are unreasonably high and that drug companies are making too much profit.</p>
<p>The new tracking <a href="http://kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-august-2015/">survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation</a> released Thursday found that while Americans generally agree that the pharmaceutical industry has improved their quality of life, 72 percent say that drug companies &ldquo;put profits before people&rdquo; and that the government must step in to correct the problem.</p>
<p>A little more than half of those surveyed said they currently are taking prescription drugs, and most of those people say they have little trouble covering the cost. However, a quarter of the respondents said they had a &ldquo;difficult time paying for their drugs.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Critics of the pharmaceutical industry frequently cite Sovaldi and Harvoni -- Gilead Sciences new wonder drugs for treating the hepatitis-C liver virus &ndash; as prime examples of these runaway costs. Although Gilead is justified in touting the cutting-edge drugs as far superior to anything else on the market for treating the potentially deadly virus, the retail cost of the drugs is between $84,000 and $94,500 for a 12-week treatment.</p>
<p>Yet the problem is far more pervasive than that. Practically every new cancer treatment drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014 was priced at more than $120,000 a year, according to a study published last month by a group of concerned cancer specialists. Moreover, the unprecedented increase in drug costs are taxing the budgets of the Veterans Administration, Medicaid and&nbsp; Medicare -- &nbsp;in some cases forcing officials to ration the availability of these drugs to patients most in need, as <em>The Fiscal Times</em> has reported.</p>
<p>As for solutions to the problem, the survey showed the most support (about eight in ten) for requiring drug companies to release detailed information on how they set prices and mandating the government to negotiate with companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55d64c36bd86ef21008b4d14-800-600/medicare_pills.png" alt="medicare_pills" data-mce-source="The Fiscal Times" /></p>
<p>However, seven in ten Americans favor government intervention to limit the amount that pharmaceutical companies can charge for drugs for serious illnesses like hepatitis or cancer, or allowing Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs imported from Canada.</p>
<p>Gilead Sciences and other major pharmaceutical companies have asserted for years that they were justified in their pricing of state-of-the-art drugs because of their substantial research and testing costs. They also said that more emphasis should be placed on the medical benefits that the new drugs provide to patients.</p>
<p>Kendra Martello, a representative of the drug industry&rsquo;s trade group PhRMA, testified in a <a href="http://www.witf.org/news/2015/06/pharmaceutical-drug-industry-defends-itself-against-critics.php">hearing</a> in Harrisburg, Pa., recently that it was unfair to contrast U.S. drug prices with those sold in other countries because &ldquo;the pricing in foreign markets is kept artificially low.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The new survey may have some important political ramifications in the presidential campaign.</p>
<p>Kaiser Foundation polling dating back to April suggests that Americans (including many Republicans) are more concerned about soaring drug prices than repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act &ndash; a primary goal of virtually every GOP presidential candidate. The April survey found that Republican respondents ranked repeal of Obamacare and the individual mandate second and third to getting a handle on soaring drug costs for seriously ill patients.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/drug-costs-dislodge-obamacare-as-gop-voters-top-health-care-concern-121549.html?hp=l7_4"><em>Politico</em></a> noted today, neither Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker nor Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida &ndash; two of the 17 Republican presidential candidates &ndash; mentioned prescription drug costs in their proposals for replacing the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the two leading Democratic candidates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have highlighted proposals for instructing the government to negotiate lower drug prices.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-swallow-pills-properly-easily-2015-8" >Scientists have discovered the best way to take pills</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drig-companies-ripping-americans-off-2015-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-donald-trump-makes-speaking-fees-compared-everyone-else-2015-8">How much Donald Trump makes in speaking fees compared to everyone else</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/drugmakers-have-promised-to-keep-supplying-greece-despite-being-owed-12-billion-2015-7Drugmakers have promised to keep supplying Greece despite being owed $1.2 billionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/drugmakers-have-promised-to-keep-supplying-greece-despite-being-owed-12-billion-2015-7
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 09:08:00 -0400Ben Hirschler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/559a7d6cecad0414054b5c46-796-597/prescription-drugs-medicare-medicaid-5.png" border="0" alt="prescription drugs medicare medicaid"></p><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies said on Monday they would continue to supply medicines to Greece for now, despite increased financial uncertainty after Greeks rejected the terms of a rescue package from creditors in a referendum.</p>
<p>Drugmakers are owned more than 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) by Greek hospitals and the state-run health insurer, after not being paid since December, but have promised to keep supplying the country on humanitarian grounds.</p>
<p>The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (Efpia), representing 40 drug companies, said it stood by a commitment made last week to ensure supplies continued for the coming month.</p>
<p>Imports of life-saving medicines - along with fuel - top the list of products at risk as Greece struggles with bank closures and the threat of an exit from the euro zone. Nearly all Greek medicine is imported.</p>
<p>Efpia warned last week, however, that shortages could still emerge on the ground, given the fragmented nature of the Greek supply chain, adding this could be exacerbated if drugs were re-exported.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca said the company was preparing contingency plans but operations for now were continuing as normal.</p>
<p>"At present, there is no impact on our supply chain as, while the banks are closed, bank transfers to and within Greece are still possible," she said.</p>
<p>Pfizer said current recorded stock levels in Greece should ensure that patients did not suffer any interruption in supply to its medicines in the short term.</p>
<p>Roche also said both its medicines and diagnostics were currently available to patients. "Roche is working to understand the full implications of yesterday’s referendum decision and will both review and take steps to revise its operating plans as needed," the company said.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drugmakers-have-promised-to-keep-supplying-greece-despite-being-owed-12-billion-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientifically-ways-women-attractive-2015-5">6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/why-prescription-drugs-are-cheaper-in-india-2015-3India is making the US look like 'the world's fools' when it comes to prescription drugshttp://www.businessinsider.com/why-prescription-drugs-are-cheaper-in-india-2015-3
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 19:13:00 -0400Stephen Petranek
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5513094fecad048a46adc587-1200-924/woman-medications-medical-costs-prescription-pills-5.jpg" border="0" alt="Woman Medications Medical Costs Prescription Pills"></p><p>There may be a long trip to India in your future if you have hepatitis C. That’s because the Indian Patent Office recently rejected Gilead Sciences’ application for a patent on Sovaldi.</p>
<p>You may remember Sovaldi, the nearly miraculous “cure” for hep C that was approved by the FDA a little more than a year ago. Gilead decided to market the drug at a nice round number — $1,000 per pill — and that decision has been controversial ever since. A 12-week course of treatment runs about $84,000.</p>
<p>Gilead offered to sell the drug in India for a whopping 99% discount, but apparently that wasn’t enough. If an Indian generic drugmaker can replicate the treatment, says a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a full course of treatment should cost about $136. A generic drugmaker in Bangladesh just days ago issued a copy of the drug it intends to sell in countries where Gilead has no patent protection.</p>
<p>The rejection was immediately appealed to the high court in Delhi, which back in February overturned the ruling and said the patent office had erred procedurally. Since then, Gilead made a deal with the Indian drug company that brought the suit, Natco Pharma Ltd. The firm is now licensed to sell a generic version of Sovaldi at a steep discount in 91 countries, but, of course, not the United States.</p>
<p>Another eight Indian pharmas are also now licensed to make Sovaldi at a steep discount. The Indian companies will sell Sovaldi for about $10 a pill, or $900 for a full course of treatment. The story makes an American scratch his head wondering how Gilead can offer a full course of the drug to India for less than what a single pill costs here.</p>
<p>We seem to remain the world’s fools when it comes to paying for drugs, because our laws do not allow the government to negotiate with drug companies over medications covered by Medicare.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-prescription-drugs-are-cheaper-in-india-2015-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-standards-family-values-china-2015-2">What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/painkiller-deaths-increase-400-percent-in-women-2013-7Painkiller Overdose Deaths Are Up 400% In Womenhttp://www.businessinsider.com/painkiller-deaths-increase-400-percent-in-women-2013-7
Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:50:00 -0400Rachael Rettner
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51d30f65ecad045e4d000005-480-/painkiller-deaths.jpg" border="0" alt="painkiller deaths" width="480" /></p><p>The percentage of U.S. women overdosing on prescription painkillers has increased sharply in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
<p>Between 1999 and 2010, the proportion of deaths from painkiller overdose increased 400 percent among women, while rising 265 percent among men.</p>
<p>"Prescription painkiller deaths have skyrocketed in women," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said at a news conference today (July 2). "Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying of overdoses at rates we have never seen before," Frieden said.</p>
<p>While men remain more likely to die of a prescription painkiller overdose, deaths among women have increased at a higher rate, and are catching up to those of men, Frieden said.</p>
<p>In 2010, more than 6,600 women died from <a href="http://www.livescience.com/13911-prescription-overdose-deaths.html">prescription painkiller overdose</a>, which is four times the number of women who died from cocaine and heroin overdoses combined, the CDC says. Most of these deaths are accidental. The death rate was highest among women ages 45 to 54.</p>
<p>There were also more than 200,000 emergency department visits for opioid abuse among women in that year.</p>
<p>Research suggests women are more likely to experience chronic pain and migraines, and to be prescribed prescription painkillers than men, the CDC says. Women may also become dependent on the drugs more quickly than men, the agency said.</p>
<p>Because women often weigh less than men, they may experience life-threatening events at lower doses of painkillers, Frieden said.</p>
<p>Rates of death from prescription painkiller overdose have increased at the same time as prescriptions for the drugs have increased. "These are dangerous medications," Frieden said. "In many other situations, the risks far outweigh the benefits."</p>
<p>People should take prescription drugs only as directed by their health care provider, and discuss all the medications they are taking with their doctor. Because taking opioids during pregnancy can cause the baby to be born with a drug addiction, women should speak with their doctor about their pregnancy plans before taking the medications.</p>
<p>Health care providers should "recognize that women can be at risk for prescription painkiller overdose. It's not just a problem among men," Frieden said.</p>
<p>Doctors should monitor patients for drug abuse and mental health problems, and discuss all pain treatment options, including those that do not involve prescription drugs, the CDC says. Doctors can also use <a href="http://www.livescience.com/36486-prescription-drug-abuse-solutions.html">prescription drug monitoring programs</a>, which are databases that keep track of patients' prescriptions, to help identify people who may be using prescription drugs improperly.</p>
<p><em>Follow Rachael Rettner <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/RachaelRettner">@RachaelRettner</a>. Follow LiveScience <a href="https://twitter/livescience" title="https://twitter/livescience">@livescience</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience" title="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience">Facebook</a> &amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts" title="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts">Google+</a>. Original article on <a href="http://www.livescience.com/37909-women-prescription-painkiller-overdose.html">LiveScience.com</a>.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/36625-key-nutrients-women-health.html">5 Key Nutrients Women Need As They Age</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/36244-strangest-allergic-reactions.html">8 Strange Signs You're Having an Allergic Reaction</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livescience.com/11342-10-easy-paths-destruction.html">10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction</a></li>
</ul><p><strong>Find Us On Facebook —&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderScience" >Business Insider: Science</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/painkiller-deaths-increase-400-percent-in-women-2013-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-inexplicable-american-consumer-revolts-against-prescription-drugs-2012-11American Consumers Are Revolting Against Prescription Drugshttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-inexplicable-american-consumer-revolts-against-prescription-drugs-2012-11
Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:20:18 -0500Wolf Richter
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/509bb3b7ecad04e40900000c-400-300/pills.jpg" border="0" alt="pills" /></p><p>Anecdotal evidence has been coagulating into numbers, and these numbers are now beginning to weigh down corporate earnings calls.</p>
<p>It appears the toughest creature out there, the one that no one has been able to subdue yet, the ever wily and inexplicable American consumer, is having second thoughts about prescription drugs. And is fighting back.&nbsp;A paradigm shift.</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ve already heard from some companies, such as drug maker <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/pfizer" class="hidden_link">Pfizer</a>, whose revenues in the US <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204846304578092394113839634.html">plunged 18%</a>, largely due to the collapse of its flagship drug Lipitor that is losing its battle with much cheaper generics.</p>
<p>But the direst indications came from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/express-scripts" class="hidden_link">Express Scripts</a>, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the US&mdash;and perhaps one of the best gauges of spending patterns for prescription drugs.</p>
<p>During the <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/983061-express-scripts-holding-management-discusses-q3-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single">earnings call</a>, CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/george-paz" class="hidden_link">George Paz</a>, who ominously was &ldquo;not prepared to provide 2013 guidance,&rdquo; embarked on a dark speech. The company&rsquo;s clients had &ldquo;unprecedented concerns about our country&rsquo;s economic outlook,&rdquo; he said. <em>Unprecedented concerns!</em> So even worse than 2008-2009. He went on:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our health claim clients are expecting membership reductions in 2013. Large employers have pulled back on hiring plans, using contractors and part-time employees when necessary. Mid to small employers are cutting back or postponing health care coverage decisions while waiting for more clarity on Health Care Reform. And we continue to see low rates of drug utilization as individuals deal with uncertainty at the household level.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He lamented &ldquo;the current weak business climate and the unemployment outlook&rdquo; and was worried about the &ldquo;challenging macroeconomic environment.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Shorts must have felt a certain frisson. Remains to be seen whether the dive that Express Scripts shares performed is a buying opportunity that will add to a cushy retirement or one that will slice off your fingers.</p>
<p>But beyond the company&rsquo;s fate, he&rsquo;d pointed at what ails the US economy, including a shift to part-time workers and contractors often without healthcare benefits, and smaller employers who, in their struggle to survive, are cutting back on healthcare benefits. As these workers&mdash;the inexplicable American consumers&mdash;are left to their own devices, they have to make their own decisions about what prescription drugs, <em>if any</em>, to blow their scarce money on.</p>
<p>Express Scripts has seen this trend in another area. Its <a href="http://www.drugtrendreport.com/traditional/trend-in-review">Drug Trend Report</a>, which dissected prescription drugs sold to its members in 2010 and 2011, sketched the beginnings of the paradigm shift: in 2011, specialty drugs sales increased 17.1%, down from a 19.6% increase in 2010; traditional drugs only eked out a gain of 0.1%, the <em>lowest increase</em> since it began tracking the data; and spending on all prescription drugs combined rose only 2.7%, <em>also a record low</em>. That was for 2011.</p>
<p>But the report didn&rsquo;t include insights into the buying behavior of the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-12/americans-without-health-insurance-decline-census-says.html">48.6 million uninsured</a> Americans who&rsquo;re even more reluctant to spend money they don&rsquo;t have on prescription drugs they can live without. And it didn&rsquo;t include the trends of 2012, which as Paz phrased it, are cause for &ldquo;unprecedented concerns.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Whatever the reasons, whether prescribing behavior by doctors or buying behavior by consumers, lack of insurance or lack of money, or the growing prevalence of generic alternatives: spending on prescription drugs, long considered recession-proof, seems to have bumped into a wall for the first time ever.</p>
<p>Healthcare costs in the US, around <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/226276/the-skyrocketing-cost-of-us-health-care-by-the-numbers">$2.6 trillion</a> a year, or 17.9% of GDP, may be reaching a level beyond which the various players in the economy cannot go, or refuse to go, a market-based barrier of sorts. And the inexplicable American consumer may be on the forefront&mdash;not only those who don&rsquo;t have insurance, but also those who have high-deductible plans. &nbsp;</p>
<p>In 2012, plans with deductibles of $1,000 or more made up <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443720204578002270222435846.html">19%</a> of employee-sponsored health plans. Families covered by such plans, for better or worse, are cutting back medical spending ... <a href="http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/June/04/high-deductible-health-insurance.aspx">by 14%</a>, according to a study last year. They&rsquo;re making medical decisions where at least one part of the equation is their own money. And they&rsquo;re accomplishing what no one has been able to accomplish so far, namely taming the untamable healthcare expense monster.</p>
<p>That the US has too much debt is no longer a controversial statement. Some may believe other problems are more urgent, or that we need to grow our way out rather than slash spending. But the debt-to-GDP ratio must decrease if we are to have a stable, prosperous economy. Read... <a href="http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/10/28/one-chart-explains-why-government-debt-is-dragging-on-the-ec.html">One Chart Explains Why Government Debt Is Dragging on the&nbsp;Economy</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-inexplicable-american-consumer-revolts-against-prescription-drugs-2012-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/fake-viagra-its-one-of-those-things-you-dont-want-to-mess-with-even-if-its-half-the-cost-2011-12You Don't Want To Mess With Counterfeit Viagra, Even If It's Half-Pricehttp://www.businessinsider.com/fake-viagra-its-one-of-those-things-you-dont-want-to-mess-with-even-if-its-half-the-cost-2011-12
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:07:00 -0500Madeleine Scinto
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4baa0c787f8b9acd52aa0800/viagra.jpg" border="0" alt="Viagra" /></p><p>Counterfeit Viagra may be 50 percent cheaper than the legit Pfizer-made pills, but the fakes also prove many times more dangerous.</p>
<p>Fraudsters use commercial-grade paint to mimic the erectile dysfunction drug's trademark blue color, and then pack the pills with toxins like boric acid, speed, and even rat poison.</p>
<p>The illegal trade brings in an estimated $75 billion annually, and in the last year alone, officials seized 330 shipments of the bogus blockbuster drug, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection..</p>
<p>Counterfeit Viagra trafficking has gotten so bad in countries like China, India, Honduras, and Columbia,&nbsp;that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/pfizer" class="hidden_link">Pfizer</a> made a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/youtube" class="hidden_link">YouTube</a> channel two months ago dedicated to outlining the dangers in more detail:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"We've seen floor wax. We've seen antibiotics. For Viagra they often use the ink from ink jet cartridges to give it that blue color...Brick dust, talcum powder...wall board...dry wall...The idea is to have it bind. Have it bind long enough and have it get the right shape or color," Pfizer Global Security team representatives say in the video.</p>
<p>The pills are manufactured in "deplorable conditions you wouldn't even let your dogs or animals play in," and there are pill compression machines kept in the bathroom next to the toilet, they add.</p>
<p>"You know some of them are rat infested, roach infested...I think people would just be shocked," said one of representatives.</p>
<p>When the Federal Drug Administration happened upon a bunch of fake Viagra processed in Mexico in 2005, the agency found the fakes sometimes contained very little or none of the active ingredients required to make them actually work.</p>
<p>With all the dramatic music and shooting, it's worth it to actually check out the Pfizer video*&nbsp;<a href="http://youtu.be/6S4kuz5Dhm0" target="_blank">here</a>, beginning at the 1:15 mark.&nbsp;&nbsp;At the very least, you'll be entertained.</p>
<p><em>*The video is blocked from embedding.</em></p>
<h2>While thinking about how some people must resort to using fake Viagra to save money, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pawnshop-customers-statistics-2011-11" target="_blank">see the kinds of customers that take out loans from pawnshops &gt;</a></h2><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fake-viagra-its-one-of-those-things-you-dont-want-to-mess-with-even-if-its-half-the-cost-2011-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>